Defend the Democratic Federation of North-Eastern Syria! Statement and call to action by the Internationalist Commune of Rojava

To all democratic forces: Defend the Democratic Federation of North-Eastern Syria!
Statement and call to action by the Internationalist Commune of Rojava

Less than a year after the start of the criminal war of aggression
against the canton Afrin, the people of North-Eastern Syria are again
confronted with an aggression by the fascist state of Turkey and its
Islamist allies. The threats of the Turkish dictator Recep Tayyip
Erdogan are no empty words, are not just election campaign propaganda
and no mere provocations. With the assaults on the refugee camp Maxmur
and several villages in Schengal on the 13th of December he has made
this clear again. In fact they are the latest expression of the
neo-ottoman expansionist aspirations of the AKP-MHP regime, and the open
announcement of a murderous war of extermination against the revolution
in North-Eastern Syria and in the entire Middle East.

Since the begin of the revolution the Turkish state, the Syrian
regime, the imperialist powers with the USA and Russia leading the way,
have undertaken everything in their power to nip this revolution in the
bud. But neither the Islamist gangs of murderers, may they be under the
flag of Al-Nusra, the so-called FSA or the black flag of the Islamic
State, nor embargo, seclusion, isolation and open war of aggression were
able to break the brave resistance of the population.

In the past 6 years of this fight the peoples of North-Eastern Syria,
under greatest sacrifices and efforts, gave proof of their dedication
to a life in freedom in front of the global public. The liberation of
Raqqa by the Syrian Democratic Forces, and with that the day by day
approaching complete destruction of the caliphate, marks the begin of a
new strategic phase in Syria and the entire region. With the destruction
of the reign of terror of the Islamic State the tactical-military
alliance of convenience between the Defence Forces of North-Eastern
Syria and the imperialist powers under the flag of the International
Coalition increasingly lose their importance.

How many contradictions ever may exist between the regional and
international hegemonial powers, they all agree in one point: The
revolution in North-Eastern Syria, its council democratic administrative
structure, the establishment of an ecological-communal public sector
and the main drive of the revolution, the liberation of women from the
millenia-old shackles of a patriarchal system of rule, constitutes the
biggest threat for their hegemonial interests and needs to be
annihilated. In the past few years the revolution in Rojava and
North-Eastern Syria has become an unparallelled source of hope for all
those who are searching, for a life beyond state, capital and
patriarchy. It is a beacon that can show the oppressed and exploited of
this Earth the way out of the darkness of the capitalist modernity, and
has proved once and for all that the “end of history” proclaimed by
those in power is nothing but a mere lie. It is the living example that
even today, in the 21st century, another world is possible.

The war of aggression on Afrin, the international support for the
massacres against the civilian population, the NATO-bombs raining down
on our friends, the German Leopard tanks, under whose tracks our hope
was supposed to be crushed, were the first clear expression of the new
imperialistic front against the revolution in the Middle east, and an
omen for what we have to expect. The people here on-site, as we
ourselves, have learnt from Afrin: Not to rely on anything but our own
strength. We do not give the least credence to the statements of the
international forces and will also not appeal to anybody. We extensively
got to know friend and foe and we know, that our only allies in this
struggle can be the international democratic, revolutionary forces,
everybody who dreams of a different world and together with whom we
fight for a free future.

We call upon everybody to prepare for a new phase of resistance,
action and collaborative fight. All those, who were on the streets for
the defence of Afrin in the past year, who organised in the many
solidarity committees, who made the World-Afrin-Day into an expression
of world wide solidarity and who feared with us for every meter, every
street of Kobanê.
All those in Europe and the entire world, who explicitly declared their
anger and their loathing towards the enemies of humanity, the warmongers
and the supporters of the Turkish fascism.
Our message was and is unambiguous: If the war against the revolution is
an international one, then our resistance is either. Let us show
together, that this revolution is the fight of all of us, that Rojava is
our hope and prospect and that we will defend out future together.

That the attacks take place in this phase is no coincidence. The
international capitalist system acts out of a position of weakness
today. The structural crisis of the statist civilisation can not be
covered up any longer and every day more people start waking up and take
up the fight against this oppressive system. We see that on the streets
of France, in the protest against the G20 summit in Argentinian Buenos
Aires, in the Women’s Strike, the #NiUnaMenos and the protests in the
Hambach Forest. The powers of the old order try to keep themselves alive
with emergency rule, state terrorism and open fascism, but their days
are numbered if we organise and take a stand against the assaults on our
lifes together. Let’s make use of the strength we drew from the
revolution and intensify our fight. If we recognise our joint power, we
will be able to throw this system onto the dung heap of history once and
for all. Against the offence of the capitalist modernity it is vital to
organise the defence and uprising of the democratic modernity
everywhere.

For us as Internationalist Commune in Rojava a new phase begins
today, too. We came together in Rojava to support the civil structures
of this revolution, to learn and understand and drive the building-up
forward. As onto the population of Rojava this war is forced onto us.
But if the enemy does not leave us another choice, then we will not
stand on the sidelines, but contribute with all our might and all our
skills to the preparation of resistance and the defence of the society
and revolution. We will undertake anything necessary to make our
contribution to this resistance. We will stand side by side with the
population against the fascist onslaught. We may have come here from the
most diverse parts of this Earth with diverse notions and works, but
this land has also become our home during the past years. In this spirit
we, too, will participate in the societal general mobilisation of the
self-government in North-Eastern Syria, which started on the 12th of
December.

You, too, stand yourself side by side with the revolution, raise your
voice, take to the streets together, joint the existing solidarity
committees and resistance groups and found additional ones.
Start actions of civil disobedience to raise awareness for the situation in Rojava and send a clear sign of solidarity.

Shoulder to shoulder against fascism!
Long life the international solidarity!
The revolution will prevail, fascism will be crushed!

Internationalist Commune in Rojava
Democratic Federation of North-Eastern Syria
20th of December 2018